My eyes fluttered open. Dim morning light filled the room. Bits of torn, faded wallpaper hung from the walls. There were deep claw marks scarring doorways and the boards covering the windows. I turned my head to one side. Severus lay next to me, eyes still closed. We shared his robes like a blanket, the rest of our clothes lay haphazardly about the room.

He was laying on his side facing me. One arm was tucked under his head and the other crossed over his bare chest to rest on the floor. My eyes followed the curves of his body to where his robes covered just below his waist. His legs, like mine, were mostly un-covered.

My mind replayed scenes from the night before. My skin tingled when I remembered the feel of his bare skin on mine, the way the moon light fell on him, highlighting small areas of toned muscle. I thought of the salty taste of his skin, how his sweat glistened, how gentle his touch had been.

His eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times until his eyes focused on me and a smile spread across his face. "Morning." He whispered.

"Morning." I answered. A wave of panic rushed over me. "The test!" I squealed as I sat straight up, covering myself with his robe

I looked back over at Severus, who was now completely uncovered. I blushed and looked forward at the wall. "I have my Defense test today! I didn't study at all!"

I wrapped his robes even tighter around myself as I stood up and began collecting my clothes.

"I think you'll be fine." Severus said, awkwardly deciding whether or not he should cover himself.

"Oh my God." I said, picking up my sweater and retreating behind the sofa. "What am I going to do? What if I've missed it? What if I have to stay another year to retake the test?"

"I don't think it's that late." Severus said. "Besides, Dumbledore always has a way of fixing things."

"And how, exactly," I said, popping my head over the top of the couch. "Am I supposed to explain why I missed the test?"

"Good point." He said. "You could always say you overslept."

"Right." I scoffed. "Because what student doesn't sleep soundly the night before the most important exam of their life?"

I pulled my sweater on and threw my robes over my shoulders. "Bye."

I left Severus half dressed in the Shrieking Shack while I rushed back to the school hoping that it wasn't too late and that I might have time to study or even a shower.

I emerged from under the Whomping Willow and rushed across the grounds, blindly fixing my hair while also trying not to slip on the dew covered grass.

I pushed open a side door almost running into a Gryffindor once I entered. My heart stopped. Students were already strolling through the castle.

Two fourth years past me and I heard one of them mutter 'What's that smell?' I hadn't thought about it before but I spent the night on the floor of a dirty, abandoned shack, not to mention the activity that took place on the same floor, I must smell particularly disgusting.

I raced up the stairs trying to think of a way I could water proof my book so I could study while I showered. It looked like students were still entering the Great Hall for breakfast so I must have had at least a little bit of time.

The Ravenclaw commons was nearly empty and no one was upstairs. To cut down on time I made the judgement that I would probably never use my textbook again and would therefore not ruin anything by getting the book wet. If I decided, later, I could always sort it out a bit with a drying spell. The pages would likely come out wrinkled but I was fine with that.

I looked in the mirror. I had a great, dark smudge across my cheek and my hair was somehow both frizzy and matted.

I put my book open on the floor and turned on the shower. I only showered long enough to read five pages but that was better than nothing and I didn't dare stay in any longer since I had forgotten to check the clock in the commons when I came back.

I didn't have time to dry my hair and dressed as quickly as I could. My uniform clung to my still wet body and shoved my dirty robes in a lump in my trunk. I rushed downstairs and skidded into the Great Hall just as the test administer was shutting the doors. I slipped into the last available seat.

I gave a discreet glance about the room. Susan was sitting three rows over and four rows up, near the front. She was seemingly unconcerned with discretion.

She looked at me with a mixture of anger and surprise.

'Where were you?' She mouthed.

Several people around her turned to look at me.

I felt my cheeks blush and replied with a shrug.

She frowned at me and returned her attention to the front of the room where Professor Edgewood was explaining the test procedures, as though we hadn't heard them a million times already.

I drifted off into my own mind and before I realized my exam had appeared on my desk. The hall was filled with the sounds of quills scratching against parchment. I had yet to open my ink bottle and was already feeling behind.

My mind was all over the place. Replaying what Dumbledore had talked to me about, what had happened in the Shrieking Shack, imagining what this summer would be like, and also about how I should be concentrating on the test. Despite the war for my attention. I could hear people turning page on their exams. I looked down at my own test where I was only half way through answering the first question. I shook my head as though attempting to shake any thoughts not related to Defence Against the Dark Arts from my brain.

I was three pages into my exam and my mind was pushing me to consider things that weren't related to school work at all and I desperately wished I had taken a concentration draft or something.

The five minute warning had sounded signaling the final minutes of the exam, giving us time to finish our final thoughts. I moved my quill hastily over the parchment. No sooner had I placed my final punctuation than my exam disappeared from my desk.

We then disbanded for lunch. The tables were back in the Great Hall within moments after the exam. The other students began flooding in from their normally scheduled classes. The Hall was abnormally quiet. The seventh and fifth years were all very quiet and looked as though it took every ounce of concentration to not fall asleep face first into their lunches.

It seemed like lunch took no time at all and the tables were once again removed from the Great Hall and it was again exam time.

We were then lined up in alphabetical order and made to wait silently before being led into a room behind the staff table where we would complete the practical portion of the exam.

Slowly the number of students dwindled. Like with the other exams, the students were exiting from a different door that couldn't be seen by those still waiting. I hadn't quite figured out if it was a measure taken to assure that the contents of the exam wasn't passed on or if it was to spare those waiting the looks of dread on the faces of the emerging students.

Soon it was just me sitting in wait. I decided that I hated having the last name Winston because alphabetically I was last for everything. I always envied those at the start of the alphabet because they were left with much less time to contemplate everything that could possibly go wrong. I had grown quite adept to imagining every terrible outcome of every situation in which I was made to wait.

"Ruby Winston." I heard Professor Edgewood call as I was imagining one of my spells backfiring and setting the entire school ablaze.

Moments later, I emerged slightly confused. That couldn't have been it. I hadn't gotten stuck on a single spell they asked for and they all worked beautifully. On my way out to the grounds I looked over my shoulder, expecting Professor Edgewood to be chasing after me to give me the real exam.

I walked out onto the sun drenched grounds. No sooner did my feet touch the grass than I was bombarded by Susan.

"Where were you?"

I flinched and looked over at her, my mind scrambling with every possible answer I could think of.

"Where were you?" She demanded again.

I shrugged. Every scenario I could imagine involved be being mauled by some sort of animal and I doubted Susan would buy it.

"You don't know where you were?" She asked. "Is that what you're telling me? I was worried sick. I didn't get an ounce of sleep last night! And you turn up today like nothing happened and you don't even have the decency to tell me where you were. Unbelievable!"

"I lost track of time." My voice rose at the end as though I were asking a question.

Susan crossed her arms and stared at me. "So, you lost track of time and were able to stay were you were all night without Filch or a teacher stumbling upon you and getting in trouble for being out after curfew?

"I was hiding." I said again as though asking her if that were a good enough or believable answer.

"So you lost track of time but had enough of a sense of time to hide but not to just come back to Ravenclaw? Why are you lying to me?"

I was lost for words. I knew I didn't want her to know the truth. What happened between Severus and I the night before would remain our secret, at least until my time was over at Hogwarts.

"So where were you?"

I froze. I didn't know what to tell her because everything I could think of was close to what I already tried to tell her and she didn't believe. Eventually, I broke her gaze and stared down at the ground.

"I see." She said. "Well, I am going to go sit by Henry and when you decide to tell me the truth, come find me, until then, have fun not having any friends."

My heart sunk down to the bottom of my gut. I suddenly didn't want to be outside and the sun was an annoyance. I turned around and walked the dim corridors of the school. I soon found myself outside the doors down to Severus' dungeon. I stared at them for a moment before I decided I didn't want to see him right now and went up to Ravenclaw tower.

The whole way up my feet felt as though they were becoming heavier and heavier. Once I entered the deserted common room I made a B-line for the stair up to the dorms. It was almost impossible for me to move my legs by the time I reached my floor.

I opened to door, not bothering to even close it, and tossed myself face-first onto my bed. I felt around blindly for my bed curtains. I shut the coverings around my bed and lay in the darkness.

I rolled over. I opened my eyes. I hadn't even realized I had closed them. I pulled my bed curtains open. I squinted my eyes in anticipation of sunlight, but the brightness wasn't there. Instead I was met with closed bed curtains, moonlight, and the slight noise of snoring coming from one of the beds.

I had a moment of panic that I had missed all of my lessons for the day until I remembered that I didn't have any lessons anymore. I tried to think about what time the exam had ended so I would have some kind of idea of how long I'd been asleep. I couldn't remember seeing a clock since before the test started.

I closed my drapes again. I sat back against my pillows. I wasn't tired anymore and I didn't have any studying to do. I didn't know what to do with myself. My mind went to Severus. I wondered what he was doing. If it was late enough even he might be asleep. I thought about the night before and how it felt to be held by him. I could almost feel his chest against my cheek and his fingers gently gliding up and down my shoulder.

I thought about how worried Susan must have been while I was experiencing only what I could consider to be pure bliss. Where could I possibly tell her I was without telling her where I was and still have Susan believe me?

I sat in my bed with my back pressed against the head board. I kicked off my shoes and took off my socks. I wiggled my toes before tucking them under the covers. I couldn't believe I had fallen asleep fully dressed. I shimmied off my robes and continued to sit in the complete darkness in my sweater and skirt.

I felt as though I should be doing something. I had wasted an entire afternoon, I felt I should have some studying to do. I don't know how long I sat doing nothing with replays of the night before running over and over again in my head. It still seems like it was something I had witnessed rather than been a part of. Butterflies still erupted in my stomach when I thought of how his sultry gaze lingered over my face and body.

I came to the realization that I missed him. I still decided against going to see him. I slid the rest of the way under my blankets and rolled over onto my side. I laid there trying to think of something to tell Susan or hopefully fall back asleep, but after countless worthless ideas and still not feeling the slightest bit tired I sat up and crossed my arms over my chest.

I kicked the covers off and once again sat in complete darkness.

"Ruby." I heard my name whispered and turned to see Susan's head peeking inside my bed curtains. She crawled on my bed letting the bed coverings close behind her. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have said any of that. It's just that I was worried about you which stressed me out and then we had O.W.L.s all week which was already stressful and then I doubly stressed to the point that I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about how you were probably dead somewhere and then when you turned up today without so much as an explanation everything just sort of collapsed together in a giant explosion.

She took a deep breath as she had said all of that without pausing once.

"You don't have to tell me where you were." She said looking at me. There was a short pause. "No matter how much I want you to or how it would be a decent thing for you to do, you don't have to tell me."

There was another pause. "You want me to tell you, don't you?"

"You absolutely don't have to." She said. "Even though you should, but don't feel obligated."

I couldn't help but smile at her. I took a deep breath. "I…was in the forest."

"What?" She inhaled. "All night?"

I shrugged. "I…thought the forest would be a good place to practice defensive spells."

"Isn't that what You-Know-Who is for?" She asked.

"Voldemort?" I asked, a small smirk spreading across my lips.

She shuddered at the sound of the name. "Don't say that name. You know who I'm talking about. Why didn't you ask him to help?"

I wanted Severus as distant from my false story as possible since he was such a large part of the truth.

"He was busy." I said with a shrug.

"Too busy for you?" She prodded.

I nodded. "He has a life, you know. Anyways, I was walking through the forest waiting for something to jump out and allow me to practice and in my wandering I guess I got lost."

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" She asked, gaping.

She was right, a normal person would have been terrified if they had actually been lost in the forbidden forest all night. I avoided looking at her, I'd messed it up. I couldn't all of a sudden acted like it was the scariest moment of my life.

"Ruby." Susan said. "You don't have to pretend to be brave. It's understandable that you would have been scared. I'm sorry if I made you feel worse for yelling at you. I bet Sss-ertain people feel horrible that they didn't spare some time for you and are ultimately at fault for your ordeal."

"What?" I asked, she had lost me.

"If he had just promised to help you…" She prodded.

"Oh," I said realizing what she was saying. "He doesn't know where I went."

"What?" She asked, an unmistakable note of happiness in her voice. "I'm the first person you've told?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, Ruby!" Susan squealed loudly. I felt her arms wrap around my shoulders as she tackle hugged me. "You haven't told me anything first in forever!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!" Joanne yelled at us from her bed. "Some of us still have to study this weekend."

Several other girls moaned in agreement. Susan and I sat in silence for a few moments until the rustling of covers stopped.

I opened the coverings around my bed and saw the dim grey light of dawn attempting to come through the windows.

"Let's go." I whispered.

I slid off my bed, followed by Susan. We entered the common room which was thankfully still empty. I took a seat on the sofa in front of the fire place and Susan sat next to me.

"So are you going to tell him?" She asked in a whisper.

"Tell who what?" I asked.

"Severus." The name seems almost as hard for her to stomach as Voldemort's. "Are you going to tell him you got lost and could have died because he apparently couldn't spare a moment for you?"

"I probably won't phrase it like that." I said.

"I would." She said. "You could have been seriously hurt. We both know that Defense isn't your strongest subject."

"Oh ye of little faith." I said. "I think I handled myself pretty well. Not even a scratch. I'm also fairly certain I did well on both portions of the exam."

"I think I did well on all of my exams so far, but it's still going to be agony waiting until July for the results."

I nodded. "What if my scores aren't good enough to start at St. Mungo's? What am I supposed to do then?"

"I don't think you have to worry about that." Susan said. "You're a complete nerd. You'll be fine."

There was a bit of silence in which I just stared into the orange embers still burning in the fire place.

"I still have some studying to do this weekend." Susan said. "What are you planning on doing?"

I shrugged. "I was thinking that I would maybe go visit Severus and I'm not sure what else to do. I'm finished with exams and I don't know what to do with myself for the next few weeks. It's overwhelming to be so underwhelmed."

"I wish I could be that kind of overwhelmed." Susan said.

"I honestly don't know what to do with myself." I said.

"You could do my studying and take my exams for me if you want." Susan offered.

"Ok." I said. "You don't mind getting a T in Arithmancy do you?"

"Maybe I'll just take the tests myself." Susan said.

"That probably for the best." I agreed as I stood up. "I'm feeling tired again. I'm actually going to put on pajamas this time and sleep a little more."

"I'll go with you upstairs, but I think I'm just going to grab some of my notes and come back down here to study." Susan said.

I changed and snuggled deep under my covers.

"Goodnight." Susan whispered as she closed the door to head back down to the common room.

I pulled my bed curtains closed and shut my eyes.